Chapter 2

Rogue's P.O.V.

I was talking to Erza about Bella when we heard a scream. Then a gunshot ricocheted through the silent night. Bisca and Alzack immediately got their guns and went outside. There, we found Bella crumpled up on the ground next to the river. A red stain was rapidly growing near her stomach. I smoothed out her halter shirt and revealed a hole in the middle of her stomach. A second bloody dent was found near her hip.

"Oh my, bring her to the infirmary!" Mira called once she got a look at the damage. "It seems like a lot more people are going to the infirmary than usual."

I picked her up bridal style and tried not to bang stuff against her head and feet too much. How could you blame me anyway? The stairway was so narrow Bella almost didn't fit through. I gently tried to rest her on the bed but she groaned the moment her head touched the pillow. Wendy was nearby and I fingered Ash's key. Before Esmerella and Ash left, they gave us keys to be summoned in emergencies and only if Bella was unconscious or something. Erza had Esmerella's key. I had Ash's. Mira and Lisanna were working on extracting the bullets from the two wounds and Wendy was slowly healing her. I took her hand and a small inaudible gasp escaped me. Her hand was as cold as ice.

I looked at Erza who had taken her other hand. From her expression, it seemed like Bella was getting colder and colder by the second.

Wendy sat back in defeat, hanging her head. "It's no use. But since we're in Crocus, we could call Chelia for help."

Master nodded and left the room. An hour later, he came back, with Chelia. She sat down and joined Wendy in the healing. After what seemed like an hour, she too sat back. "I don't think this is affecting her in any way. The bullet holes are healed but she shows no sign of waking up. And her core temperature is rapidly dropping. What did you guys do, dip her in ice?"

"Um, guys…" Amy said. She and Lily had been examining the bullets. "There are some weird symbols on the bullets. Are you sure it isn't magical?"

Levy took one of the two bullets from her and looked at it with a magnifying glass. Carved upon the bullet was a grotesque, small, detailed picture. It showed a dragon with a sword through the heart and a woman lying on the dragon's side, crying. She also had an arrow piercing her heart. "I don't recognize these symbols," Levy clarified, "These haven't been in any of the books I read before."

I gripped Ash's key and willed him to come to Earthland. A figure in yellow light appeared and the light burst out, revealing Ash.

"Geez, it's barely been a year," he complained. "Why is it that Earthland is the place with the most trouble? In Jai and Earth, it's completely peaceful there."

I pointed toward Bella and he cursed. "And again, she's always the one stuck right in the middle of the mess. What happened?"

"We found her outside with bullet wounds," I explained, "They healed but she's still unconscious. And there are weird symbols on the bullets too."

"Let me see them." Ash extended his hand toward Amy and she dropped one in his palm. He examined them with caution and cursed. "If this is what I think it is, you may have a slight bounty of trouble. But call Esmerella first so I could confirm it."

Erza nodded and soon Esmerella appeared. And not in a very good mood either.

"Sheesh! Guys! How much problems could there be in Earthland anyway? You know, I'm in the middle of my world tour!" She complained loudly. "Oh Bella? Hi!"

"Idiot, she's unconscious." Ash muttered, and tossed the bullets to her. She caught it with precision and speed but her mood wasn't lifting anytime soon. "Tell me if it's her."

Esmerella sighed and looked at them. She gasped. "It's her."

Ash smiled grimly. "Thought so. The wounds were caused by one of them."

"Can you guys quit beating around the bush and tell us what this means?" Erza snapped, impatient.

"Okay, well, let's just say that Bella has a very powerful enemy to deal with. Long ago," Ash said, "there was a time where extractions were actually one hundred percent successful. The evil personas were purified and for the time being, it was a golden age. But the dirtiest of things cannot stay in the light forever. Eventually, the personas took over and it was our mistake, the demigods, to spare the personas without thinking about the consequences. From that time on, a new race was created. Let's put it in the perspective of angels. Angels are good and so on. But their counterpart, fallen angels are demons. The evil personas were the demigod's 'fallen angels' of their race. Some of us know them as demidemons. Anyway, continuing on, the demidemons were sealed in a world with a ton of help from the gods. It seems like that the seal broke. The person who shot her is a girl known as Tierra. She's probably the reason why the seal broke. Tierra is the most powerful demidemon slash demigod alive. She learned all of the magics including her opposite without losing herself in the process of learning the opposite element. Considering the fact that she's been around for countless centuries, if she wanted us dead, we would be dead."

Esmerella nudged him with her elbow. "No fair," she complained, "I want to do some talking too!" she faced us, her expression serious. "The bullets are specially carved to target us and only us. A normal person wouldn't have been affected by this kind of bullet. It targets our mental fears. The woman is Mother Nature, showing her death. The Dragon God is in there too, dying as well. Bella's worst fear is that is Mom and Dad came back, they would die again. Tierra is basically the assassin of the demidemons. If one of them thinks us demigods are making some mistake, she will be the one to kill the demigod responsible. I also noted over the centuries, she likes using the hit and run technique. After all, if she died, who would kill the demigods? What was her last target again? Ash? Do you remember?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "I think it was Kaysiandra. Yeah, Kaysiandra, the Demigod of the Earth. Apparently, Kaysi used her power to defeat a dark clan on Fearless. Tierra went after her and a week later, we had a meeting and when Kaysi didn't come, we found her body in a cave on Fearless with the emblem of the outcasts on her stomach." Ash shuddered. "Turns out Tierra killed her for interfering with the human society. The demidemons think it's unnatural and sinful for demigods to associate with humans, especially if the humans know about their past. Anyway, going back to Bella's condition, look at her shoulder blades." He brushed away the hair. "Her marks are all gone."

Esmerella frowned. She started humming. "Creation Mark. I, Esmerella Valia Pyderi, prove that this girl, Bellalyse Mariota Pyderi is indeed the Daughter of Mother Nature." A creation mark formed on her right shoulder blade. "Dragon Mark. I, Esmerella Valia Pyderi, prove that this girl, Bellalyse Mariota Pyderi is indeed the Daughter of the Dragon God." The dragon mark appeared. "Rogue, if you and Bella want, you could do the dragon mate mark later." Mira appeared with the Fairy Tail guild insignia stamp and printed the silver mark on Bella's shoulder, exactly where it was in the first place.

"Esmerella, Bella's not getting any better. We should use the Blank Life Healing Spell." Ash noted.

She nodded and positioned her hands above Bella. Ash did the same. "Blank Life Healing: Search and Resuscitate." A glow surrounded them and for a split second, the light flared out, making us look away.

When the smoke and light cleared, we could see Bella blinking.

Bellalyse's P.O.V.

I woke up in the infirmary with no collection of what happened over the past few hours. I briefly remembered the gunshot and the girl with the purple hair. I squinted and tried to recall the words she said. I barely could hear it but I think it was Suffer, die and repent was what she said. I think. Everything was a blobby mess in my mind. My eyes focused and I squinted again at two figures.

"Esmerella? Ash?" I was confused. They just smiled at me. Pshh. They forgot I have telepathy. I sorted through their mind and got a giant surprise. "I'm being targeted by Tierra? What did I do to offend them?" In my opinion, they just went after the demigods who created them. Since Nightwalker was my only evil persona, they had no reason to assassinate me. I recall the last target, Kaysi, had extracted her persona and therefore died. "Weren't they sealed in the unknown world anyway?"

Ash rubbed his head. "They escaped. We need to have a conference, just us three. The rest of you, please leave us alone."

"No," Erza protested, "We could help you with this Tierra." Everyone else nodded as we stared at them.

"That wouldn't do," Esmerella explained, "This is a demigod-only problem. Innocent humans cannot get mixed up in this. That would only make it worse."

"Innocent?" Amy muttered, "Team Natsu and Team Guardian have destroyed at least a hundred towns by now."

I grinned at her half-heartedly. It was common knowledge among the demigods that whomever is targeted by Tierra has no chance of survival whatsoever. Which meant I would die.

"We won't let you die, Bella." Esmerella smiled, reading my mind. "In fact, I have a feeling Ash had a plan."

Ash stood up from the bed. "We need to call together all of the demigods. Everyone. Even the ones scattered to other worlds. There is one solution to this: creating another world and sealing them in it. Permanently."

I frowned at him. "That's the reason Dad died, Ash! Demigods aren't as powerful as gods. We would all die halfway through the creation." The Dragon God was the second most powerful god in the world; right next to Mother Nature. He used all of his power yet died from it. We had about a twenty percent chance to create a new world. And that would mean death for all those who lent their power to our cause. Normal humans can't endure it either; their contribution wouldn't affect it at all so it was the demigod's job to do it.

"We're going to ask for help from the gods. You know, some of us are very close to the gods in the Upper World. Maybe if we collect twice as much power as Dad, we could actually survive the creation a world and the sealing of the demidemons." I hated how everything Ash said made sense. It was a logical option though; the only negative being, oh well, I don't know, losing our lives?! If everything failed, that is. And considering the fact that the Dragon God had to use every bit of his power to his deathbed to create a world we had about as little as a chance as me surviving in a room alone with Tierra.

I sighed. "Okay." Esmerella nodded to confirm her support.

He smiled. "They will be coming to Earthland. Sorry Bella, but they'll have to stay with you."

I glared at him. "There are over five thousand demigods. How much are you planning to invite to this little 'gathering' anyway?"

Ash avoided my gaze. "If they all accept my invitation, all of them. And we shouldn't forget about the gods I invited too."

I groaned loudly. "FINE! Now go back to Earth and Jai."

I sighed as I walked out, fingering the hole in my clothing. If I hadn't recovered in time I guess Gray would have taken my place in the Grand Magic Games. He was sixth place in the race. Everyone else was already waiting for me. "Are you okay or what?" Sting asked arrogantly. If I didn't have the strength to break through trees through sheer force, I would have punched him. But, I knew he liked to have his bones full and non-broken.

"Hey guys? Um, slight problem." I muttered. "A lot of demigods are going to come over for the Tierra problem. And they don't have any place to stay."

"They could stay with us." Rogue said calmly, ignoring Sting's glares. "How much are going to be on Earthland?"

"About six thousand, including the gods." I mumbled.

"Slight problem." Matt said. "Our house is a four-person home."

"I'll fix that." I said cheerfully.

A Few Hours Later…

"Wood-Make! Floor!" I summoned my magic. I was doing a bit of designing on Rogue and Sting's house. "Arc of Embodiment! Stairway and Opening!"

Everyone gaped at me as I added about ten more floors. I laughed my butt of at their expression. I had requipped all of the furniture and I was nowhere close to done on the slight changes. There was now a pole going through all of the floors and a stairway and elevator for those who were lazy. Like Sting.

"Memory Make! Glass Flooring!" I again added another floor.

"Is it necessary to use more than two types of magic?" Amy asked, impatient.

"It's bored using the same magic." I complained. "But fine. I'll use Arc of Embodiment."

I imagined about five more floors and the house extending into the forest. I also imagined that there was a barrier around it; to the normal eye, the house would look the same, no different than before. I bet if people saw this giant house, they would definitely freak out.

I opened my eyes and requipped the furniture. I had bought some more furniture so it spread out.

"Phew." I wiped my forehead and took a sip of water. "That was easy but exhausting."

Rogue stared at me, Amy floating, impatient to go visit Lily, Sting gaped at me, Matt was exploring and Lector and Fro were saying, "Bella-san is strong!" and, "Fro thinks so too!"

"Well, let's get settled," Rogue said slowly.

The Next Day…

The Grand Magic Games were still going on so I teleported everyone from the Fairy Tail Guild to the stadium. Mato was dancing around and when we arrived, he started making the announcements.

"Today's challenge is Defend! The participants: Ren from Blue Pegasus, Lyon from Lamia Scale, Flare from RavenSaber, Arania from Mermaid Heel, and Natsu from Fairy Tail. Participants, please step forward."

Once they were gathered and surrounded him, I observed our surroundings, looking for a hint of purple hair, green eyes. I knew Tierra wouldn't drag innocent people in her assassination but one can never be too careful.

"The rules are: You will be given a delicate item to guard. The purpose is to protect your own item and destroy others. Start!" They were teleported to a valley in different areas.

I face palmed. Of COURSE we had the participant who would do more destroying than protecting. Knowing Natsu, he would probably break his own item in the process of breaking others. Watching the screens, I could tell he got a golden egg. Just great…when they hatched Happy, I could tell Lisanna did most of the work. He wanted to make scrambled eggs out of it. I leaned forward when a figure caught my attention. She was standing on the ridge at the edge of the spectator seats. Her purple hair blew in the wind as her green eyes stared intensely at my face. Tierra.

Author's Note: Yes! Finally got it updated. Next week I will update three chapters since I have a vacation from school for Thanksgiving. If you guys have any ideas you want in my stories, I'll try to include them! Thanks for reading! Please review!